Turkey has subjected protective products such as masks, goggles, and sterile gloves to export controls, according to a regulation published in the Official Gazette on March 4.
The move aims to meet domestic demand as the novel coronavirus, known as COVID-19, continues to spread worldwide, Turkish Trade Minister Ruhsar Pekcan told a press conference in the capital Ankara.
Stating that there are no reported cases of the virus in Turkey, Pekcan added: “As it is likely that the outbreak will be seen in our country, we decided to subject protective gear exports to prior authorization to manage domestic demand.”
Sales of protective masks surged in the last two months, rising 45 percent in January and 70 percent in February, she said.
“Production in Turkey is capable of meeting our domestic needs, but global demand is huge,” Pekcan added.
First detected in Wuhan, China in December, the novel coronavirus has spread to at least 73 countries.
The global death toll from the virus is over 3,000, with more than 89,000 infected.
After declaring the outbreak an international health emergency, last week the World Health Organization raised the global risk level to very high.
The European Union’s high representative for foreign and security policies, Josep Borrell, has suggested to work with Turkey in addressing common challenges stemming from regional conflicts, as he met with Turkey’s defense and interior minister late March 3.
In a separate context, European Council President Charles Michel also arrived in Ankarafor talks to overcome the ongoing refugee problem on the Turkish-Greek border. Michel will talk to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
“Pressure and unilateral action are not an answer. We need to work hand in hand to address common challenges, for the benefit of both Turkey and the EU,” Borrell said on Twitter after a meeting with Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu in Ankara. EU commissioner for crisis management Janez Larencic was also present at the meeting.
Borrell also met Defense Minister Hulusi Akar and discussed the recent developments in the Idlib province of Syria where 34 Turkish troops were killed in an attack by the regime forces late last week.
“Humanitarian situation in Idlib is of extreme gravity. Need to promote de-escalation and have an in-depth discussion with Turkey on security and defense challenges,” the EU’s representative said on Twitter.
The Foreign Affairs Council will meet in an extraordinary session on March 6 a day after the informal ministerial discussions on Syrian and Turkey in Croatia, he stated.
Meanwhile, Vice President Fuat Oktay received Borrell and the accompanying delegation.
In a one-hour closed-door meeting in çankaya Palace in the Turkish capital Ankara, the 2016 Turkey-EU deal, including issues such as migrants, visa exemption, the Customs Union, and EU membership negotiations, were discussed.
During the meeting, it was stressed that the EU should fulfill its responsibilities and there should be a ‘fair share of responsibility’ among the parties.
The agreement on March 16, 2016, had pledged visa-free travel to Turkish citizens along with financial support, resettlement, and revising of the Customs Union.
Turkish Deputy Foreign Minister and Director for EU Affairs Faruk Kaymakçı, Director General for EU Relations at the Turkish Foreign Ministry Ambassador Başak Turkoglu, head of Turkish Interior Ministry’s migration management department Abdullah Ayaz, EU Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarcic and head of the EU Delegation to Turkey Christian Berger also attended the meeting.
European countries must support Turkey‘s solutions in Syria if they want to resolve the migration crisis, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on March 4.
“If European countries want to resolve the issue, they must support Turkey’s efforts for political and humanitarian solutions in Syria,” Erdoğan said.
The president’s remarks came at the ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) parliamentary group meeting in capital Ankara.
“All European countries closing their borders to refugees today, trying to push them back by hitting them and sinking their boats, in fact even shooting at them, are trampling over the universal declaration of human rights,” Erdoğan said.
Erdoğan also called on the European countries, “especially Greece” to act in line with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
He criticized the Greek response, saying: “The Greeks – who are resorting to any means to stop refugees coming into their country, even drowning them or killing them with live ammunition – they shouldn’t forget they might need this same mercy one day.”
He also showed a photo displaying the help extended to the Greek people who fled Nazi attacks and took refuge in Syria during World War II.
“One of the Greek boys or girls in this photo is maybe the grandfather or grandmother of [Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos] Mitsotakis,” Erdoğan said.
Last week, Turkish officials announced that they would no longer try to stop irregular migrantsfrom reaching Europe.
Since then, thousands of irregular migrants have flocked to Edirne to make their way into Europe.
The decision came after at least 34 Turkish soldiers were killed by the regime forces in Idlib, northwestern Syrian on Feb. 27.
Turkey, which already hosts some 3.7 million Syrian migrants, more than any country in the world, says it cannot absorb another refugee wave.
The Turkish soldiers are working to protect local civilians under a 2018 deal with Russia under which acts of aggression are prohibited in the region.
The European Central Bank (ECB) says it is “ready to take appropriate and targeted measures” to deal with the risks the coronavirus outbreak might have for the global economy and financial markets.
“The coronavirus outbreak is a fast developing situation, which creates risks for the economic outlook and the functioning of financial markets,” the ECB said in a Monday statement.
The ECB is closely monitoring developments and their implications for the economy, medium-term inflation and the transmission of our monetary policy.”
“We stand ready to take appropriate and targeted measures, as necessary and commensurate with the underlying risks,” the statement read.
Turkey deployed swarms of killer drones to strike Russian-backed Syrian government forces, in what a senior official said was a military innovation that demonstrated Ankara’s technological prowess on the battlefield.
The retaliation for the killing last week of 33 Turkish soldiers by Syrian forces involved an unprecedented number of drones in coordinated action, said the senior official in Turkey with direct knowledge of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Syria policy. It was the first time a country had commanded the air space over such a large area using drone swarms, according to the official.
The series of strikes since Thursday by dozens of the remotely-controlled aircraft targeted Syrian bases and chemical warfare depots, the Turkish military said. But Turkey also located and destroyed some Syrian missile-defense systems, raising questions about the effectiveness of the Russian-made equipment intended to deter such air attacks.
The wreckage of a Turkish vehicle at the site of regime air strikes in Idlib province, Feb. 28. Photographer: Omar Haj Kadour/AFP via Getty Images
“That’s something only Israel had been recorded publicly to have done until now,” Charles Lister, director of the Extremism and Counterterrorism Program at the Middle East Institute, said on Twitter, in reference to video footage taken by a Turkish drone allegedly showing the destruction of a Syrian army air-defense system. Turkey was waging an “air campaign run entirely by armed drones backed up” by heavy rocket artillery, he said.
The tactic threatens to bring NATO member Turkey into direct confrontation with Russia, adding to strains in relations between Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin as they prepare to meet this week in an effort to ease tensions over Syria. The two leaders have worked together to try to end the Syrian civil war, despite backing opposing sides, but have repeatedly stumbled over who should control the northwestern Syrian province of Idlib that borders Turkey.
Russia dominates the skies over Syria as part of Putin’s military support of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, deploying advanced S-400 missile-defense systems to secure the air space while its warplanes aid Syrian forces battling to take the last rebel stronghold in Idlib. Turkish forces back the rebels and Ankara says it fears a fresh exodus of refugees flocking into Turkey if Idlib falls to Assad.
Sources: Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency; Jane’s Conflict Monitor, areas of control as of Feb. 24, 2020
Syria reacted to the Turkish drone campaign by declaring the air space in Idlib closed, the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency reported Sunday. “Any aircraft that violates the Syrian airspace will be dealt with as a hostile aircraft that must be downed,” SANA reported, citing an unnamed military official.
Turkey announced Sunday that its forces had shot down two Syrian Su-24 warplanes and destroyed three more Syrian air defense systems, while confirming that one armed Turkish drone was hit.
Turkey wants to carve out a zone that it controls in northern Syria as part of efforts to resettle millions of Syrian refugees currently in Turkey. Putin has said Assad’s forces should control all of Syria’s territory as the best way to guarantee Turkey’s border security.
Russia denied involvement in the Feb. 27 air strike that inflicted the biggest single-day loss of Turkish troops for decades, though Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow can’t prevent Syrian forces striking at “terrorists” on their soil. Turkish officials accuse Moscow of doing too little to rein in Assad.
Turkey has long hosted the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s Anatolian Eagle military exercises, which simulate attacks on similar Russian missile-defense systems including with electronic warfare. Israeli forces also participated in the drills once. Turkey deployed an array of electronic jammers in Syria before it launched the drone strikes as part of its “Spring Shield” campaign.
Ankara appeared eager to show off its aerial firepower. The Defense Ministry posted a series of videos on Twitter showing Syrian tanks and artillery being destroyed in apparent drone attacks.
ccording to a poll conducted by 5W Public Relations, 38% of 737 American beer drinkers are actively avoiding and will not purchase Corona beer because of the coronavirus.
Among regular Corona drinkers, only 4% said they will no longer drink their fave, but 14% said they would not order their fave in public, ostensibly because they don’t wanna freak people out. Another 16% of U.S. residents are confused about the connection between Corona beef and coronavirus.
From stocks to bonds and currencies, the coronavirus outbreak is rocking all corners of financial markets. For oil producers, the pain has been particularly acute.
With demand dissipating, oil has plunged into a bear market, putting pressure on OPEC to step in and attempt to stabilize prices. But as the coronavirus continues to spread around the world can the cartel really play the savior?
That’s the question this week, as OPEC members and allied producers gather in Vienna for meetings on Thursday and Friday
The backdrop: Brent crude futures, the global benchmark, finished Friday at $50.52 per barrel, down 13.6% for the week. US oil was trading at $44.76, a 16.2% weekly decline. Prices haven’t been that low since late 2018
Why OPEC needs to act: The economies of some OPEC members are reliant on crude production, and the coronavirus has sharply reduced demand for products such as gasoline and jet fuel. To keep prices from dropping further, OPEC may turn to what has become its preferred strategy in recent years: coordinated production cuts.
The Financial Times has reported that Saudi Arabia is pushing for a cut in production of 1 million barrels per day, much more than first expected. The kingdom would shoulder the brunt of the reduction, while Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Russia would split the rest, according to the FT. Russia is not a member of OPEC, but it has coordinated production levels with the cartel in recent years.
Satellite images released by NASA and the European Space Agency reveal that air pollution over China has gone down since the coronavirus outbreak.
Production in many factories has been halted and transportation has been restricted in order to prevent spreading the virus. In mainland China, tens of thousands of cases have been confirmed with more than 2,700 dead.
From January 1-20 the images show higher levels of nitrogen dioxide over China, but from February 10-25, traces of the gas are hardly visible. Nitrogen dioxide is a yellow-brown gas emitted by motor vehicles, power plants, and industrial facilities. It can cause respiratory problems like coughing, asthma, and difficulty breathing.
NASA scientists say the drop was initially most visible over Wuhan, where the outbreak began.
“This is the first time I have seen such a dramatic drop-off over such a wide area for a specific event,” said Fei Liu, an air quality researcher at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, said in a statement.
Pollution does tend to go down around the Lunar New Year as many businesses close for celebrations, however, researchers believe this decrease is more than just a holiday or weather-related effect.
“This year, the reduction rate is more significant than in past years and it has lasted longer,” Liu said.
At least 29 Turkish soldiers have been killed and several others injured in an airstrike by Syrian government forces in Idlib, a Turkish governor has said.
Turkish forces “responded in kind” almost immediately, retaliating with artillery fire on “all known” Syrian government targets, Turkey’s Anadolou news agency reported the state’s communications director Fahrettin Altun as saying.
The dangerous escalation marks the largest number of Turkish casualties in a single day since it sent thousands of troops to aid those resisting Bashar al-Assad‘s Russian-backed offensive, which began in December.
Idlib is the last major city held by opposition forces, and nearly 1 million residents have been forced to flee since the Syrian government’s aggressive bombing campaign began.
In anticipation of the imminent arrival of refugees from Idlib, Turkish border officials have been ordered to stand down and allow them to pass into Europe, a Turkish official told Reuters on Thursday
This has not been confirmed by the government in Turkey, which hosts some 3.7 million Syrian refugees and in 2016 struck a multibillion-euro deal with the European Union to stem the influx of migrants into the bloc.
More than 900,000 people in Idlib have fled their homes since December, with some 500,000 estimated to be children.
Most are homeless and sleeping in freezing conditions at camps and makeshift shelters in the region. Many have resorted to burning spare clothes and garbage to stay warm.
Offensives by Syrian government forces are shifting the front lines closer to these densely populated areas, leading the UN deputy regional humanitarian coordinator for Syriato warn last week that there will be “a bloodbath” if Mr Assad’s forces push further into the province.
Mr Assad’s forces, supported by relentless Russian airstrikes, have pushed hard in recent months to retake the last large rebel-held region in northwest Syria after nine years of war that has displaced millions and killed hundreds of thousands.
Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has threatened to mount a major counter-offensive against Mr Assad’s forces unless they pull back within the next two days to ceasefire lines agreed in 2018.
Two Turkish officials said he held an emergency meeting in Ankara with staff after the airstrike on Thursday, but the presidency would not release any details. Turkey previously suffered 21 casualties in February.
The airstrike came after Turkey-backed Syrian opposition fighters retook a strategic northwestern town from government forces on Thursday, opposition activists said, cutting a key highway just days after the government reopened it for the first time since 2012.
Despite losing the town of Saraqeb, Mr Assad’s forces now control almost the entire southern part of Idlib province after capturing more than 20 villages on Thursday, state media and opposition activists said.
While the fighting raged, Turkish and Russian officials concluded two days of talks in Ankara. Two previous rounds of negotiations in Ankara and Moscow have not yielded a sought ceasefire deal.
Hours earlier, Russian state television claimed Turkish military specialists were using shoulder-fired missiles to try to shoot down Russian and Syrian military aircraft over Idlib, a development that, if confirmed, would mark another serious escalation of the conflict.
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